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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26411845">Pictures in the Sand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe'>MaiKusakabe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Luke and Leia Switched, Gen, Padawan Leia, Tatooine (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:22:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26411845</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKusakabe/pseuds/MaiKusakabe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Obi-Wan Kenobi could never be too grateful for his too stubborn Padawan and her insistence to be part of his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Leia Organa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 Obi-Wan Kenobi Gen Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/kj_feybarn/gifts">kj_feybarn</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was browsing the request summaries for the Obi-Wan Gen Exchange and was struck by an urge to write, so here I bring two small scenes set in the same universe, one where Leia was the baby Obi-Wan took to Tatooine instead of Luke.</p><p>A gift for kj_feybarn, whose stories are a delight and a bright spot in these dark times :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The speeder came to an abrupt halt right outside the canyon’s narrow passages, and its pilot jumped out, somersaulted, and dropped to bow to those present as though she had put on a particularly entertaining performance instead of driving her Aunt and Uncle closer to an early grave.</p><p>Leia Skywalker was beaming when she looked up, joy and pleasure radiating off of her in waves. She ran up to Obi-Wan and grinned at him from her —very proudly carried— chest-level height.</p><p>“Ben! Ben, I did it!” she announced, bouncing on the balls of her feet.</p><p> “So you did,” Obi-Wan agreed, smiling at her and reaching out to ruffle her hair. The last valiant remnants of her braids couldn’t withstand the assault and fell around her face. “Good job, my young student.” Padawan was too dangerous a word to be spoken out loud, even if Leia was now old enough to understand some words couldn’t be overheard outside of their strange family. Apprenticeships, however, were fairly common on Tatooine, and those locals who cared enough to notice them believed Ben Kenobi, recently owner of a rickety old shuttle, was teaching young Leia Skywalker the ins and outs of the shipping business.</p><p>When Leia had finally won the contest of wills against her Uncle and Obi-Wan himself —Beru had wisely known Leia would win for months by then— Owen had announced, less reluctantly than was his norm when speaking to Obi-Wan, that Obi-Wan would need a trade if he was going to move in with their family. Because of course it was nonsense for him to live as far away as the Jundland Wastes if he was going to be teaching Leia how to use the Force, and all three of them were ready to be done with Leia’s excursions into the desert to go find him.</p><p>Leia dashed off to tackle Beru, already babbling about which hairstyle she wanted to try on for her treat after her test. A Padawan braid would have been tantamount to suicide, something Leia had pouted about until a solution came to Obi-Wan one day as he watched Beru braiding Leia’s hair.</p><p>Contrary to Obi-Wan himself or Leia’s father —and Obi-Wan was a coward; he flinched away from the name even in his thoughts— Padmé Amidala, being the former Queen and then Senator of Naboo, hadn’t been erased from history the way the Jedi Order had been. Obi-Wan had snuck away from Tatooine and masked the holonet signal he used, but two weeks later he returned with a collection of holos of Padmé. Leia had been thrilled to finally see her mother, and she had loved the idea of using Padmé’s complex hairstyles as a symbol of her status. Fortunately, Beru was much more skilled at wrangling hair than either Obi-Wan or Owen were.</p><p>“Tell me she was safe,” Owen demanded the moment he was in hearing range, even though he had refused to allow this exercise until Obi-Wan could prove satisfactorily that he would be able to protect Leia from harm anywhere in that canyon.</p><p>“She hasn’t been in any danger,” Obi-Wan assured him. Owen nodded, but the tension in his shoulders left no doubt that Obi-Wan would be babysitting a distressed, drunk uncle while Beru braided Leia’s hair and shared a story about Shmi Skywalker as was their small tradition by now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The second sun was setting by the time Obi-Wan reached the farm. The speeder had sputtered to a halt and refused to move again two hours ago, and they’d had no choice but to walk and tow it back to the homestead using the Force. But Leia had already been drooping on their way back after all her running around town, and eventually she had been so tired she hadn’t protested much to Obi-Wan scooping her up and placing her on the front seats. She had succumbed to his sleep suggestion in seconds. She was now curled into a ball fast asleep, protected from the last rays of sun by Obi-Wan’s cloak tied over the seating space to provide some shade.</p><p>He wasn’t surprised to find Owen waiting outside the door for them, and responded to his raised eyebrow with a helpless smile.</p><p>“I see the bucket of bolts didn’t wait for the spare pieces to break down,” Owen said, approaching Obi-Wan to walk with him to the shed. Said spare parts sat innocently in the backseat, their presence mocking Obi-Wan for refusing to pay the exorbitant price demanded to use a repair station at Mos Eisley.</p><p>“Of course not. Although I had a most pleasant walk,” Obi-Wan told Owen, and wasn’t surprised by the snort that earned him. Owen liked to shake his head in bewilderment at what he called Obi-Wan’s quirks, and walking under the desert suns was near the top of the list. Obi-Wan, of course, exaggerated his enjoyment of the activity and carefully hid his occasional complaints in favor of watching Owen despair at him.</p><p>Once in the shed, Obi-Wan carefully lowered the speeder and retrieved his now sand-caked cloak. He reached into the front seating space to shake Leia’s shoulder.</p><p>“Leia,” he called her, and earned a groan and an arm trying to bat his hand away for his efforts. “Leia, princess, it’s time to wake up,” he insisted, shaking her more firmly.</p><p>She grumbled one of the huttese curses she swore she didn’t know.</p><p>“Leia, your aunt has dinner waiting for you,” Owen added, and that approach was met with more success.</p><p>Leia opened an eye to look at Owen in the dim light of the shed, then blinked and sat up bolt upright.</p><p>“Ben!” she cried, whining, and glared balefully at Obi-Wan. Clearly, she had figured out how she had come to be here.</p><p>Obi-Wan offered her a serene smile, but willingly accepted her imperious hand and let her use him as a ladder to get down from the speeder.</p>
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